Author Archives: cinemachaat

Style

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Style is a story about overcoming adversity and keeping yourself nice no matter what the temptation.  From the opening titles sequence showing disabled kids dancing, the message is there – Dance is joyous and belongs to all. It is a traditional aspirational tale of a boy from the disadvantaged side of society achieving his dream, of a man who overcomes tragedy to find triumph and the power of love in all its forms.  Written and directed by Lawrence, who also stars and choreographs, Style is a dance extravaganza with something for everyone’s tastes.

Prabhu Deva is Ganesh, a star of the dance competition circuit. He has won high profile dance competitions and his future seems assured. We will tell you now – we love Prabhu Deva. He is a lanky, unlikely looking hero who is transformed when he dances.

His main rival in these competitions is Anthony, and we first see Ganesh beating Anthony to a place in the regional finals.

Anthony (he is evil – we know this because he has a spiral perm and sneers a lot so we will call him Evil Anthony from now on) and his crazy brother (with terrible cornrow braids) put paid to their rival’s dancing days in a rigged accident which causes Ganesh to lose both his legs. Anthony will be recognisable as that backing dancer with the long permed hair from many Hindi films.


Of course Ganesh’s sponsors desert him as he can no longer dance, and to add insult to injury, Evil Anthony becomes the new regional champion by default.

Meanwhile, Lawrence plays Raghava;  a young man with big dreams but without the means to make them reality. He is in search of his long lost mother, and passes his days working as a cleaner in a local dance school. There is a somewhat troubling bit of back story to Ragahava’s character but it doesn’t crop up until late in the film and seemed quite unnecessary. He is of course a phenomenally talented dancer but due to his lowly status, is never given a chance to fulfil the promise he made to his mother that he would become  famous. He lives with his friends, all of whom have menial jobs and share the dream of dancing professionally and running a dance school. Despite a few breaks, nothing is helping them make the leap and indeed there are many setbacks. We enjoyed this song for many reasons, not least because it was very educational as to place names and foods. And they look a bit like The Wiggles:

Raghava, rather endearingly and totally understandably, is obsessed with Chiranjeevi. The presence of Megastar Chiru, real or imagined, sparks some of the best and funniest scenes in the film, including a fight sequence worthy of Jackie Chan.

Lawrence has a likeable screen presence and is certainly suited to the physicality of the role. We believe that the best dancers also excel in the fight scenes as they draw on their  gymnastic abilities and timing rather than just relying on muscle. And he is such an amazing dancer that some of the more incredible plot points don’t matter so much.

Ganesh is depressed and frightened of what his life will be without dance and of being dependant on his younger sister for support.   Raghava is oppressed by lack of opportunity but determined to keep trying to fulfil his dreams of a mother and a career.  After a pep talk by his sister, Ganesh determines that he will find new dancers to take on Evil Anthony and his nasty looking backing dancers. After some depressing but very funny auditions (think Agadoo), Ganesh finds Raghava and crew performing a tribute to his last dance routine on a TV dance show. Destiny has got its act together at last!

There is also some romance in the air. Shruthi, played by Charmi, is a student at the Western Dance School where Raghava cleans. He should have known she was the wrong girl after seeing her audition to Britney’s “Oops I Did It Again” complete with wardrobe malfunction. Raghava went to her rescue and was instantly smitten. We see his heart break as Charmi reveals she has been using him to make her college friend Raja jealous enough to express his feelings. Oblivious to the damage she has done to Raghava, she offers him the first wedding card for her upcoming marriage.

Raghava and the boys move in with their guru, and undertake an exhausting training montage. Ganesh’s sister Priya, played by the lovely Kamalini Mukherjee, develops feelings for Raghava as she sees how he treats her beloved brother, and his amazing dance style. Raghava remains oblivious to Priya, who is a classical dancer, for much of the film despite her well-mannered flirting and her romantic daydreams.

Hitting the big time means big money, and to compete the guys need sponsors – the sponsors that had deserted Ganesh.  A quick trip to the local discotheque with a dance off to show their Style, and they manage to gain the support they need. Success is beckoning and spirits are high!

But this is a film and things cannot run so smoothly for our clean living heroes. Tragedy strikes, and darkness looms in the guise of spiral-permed Evil Anthony who is determined to win at any cost.

Again.

Before the big competition Raghava’s friends are kidnapped by Evil Anthony’s even more evil brother.  The only person more evil than these two guys is their hairdresser.

Raghava tells Ganesh they have gone to the temple as he has been told to keep their whereabouts a secret if he wants to ever see them again.  The competition has started, the boys are needed to dance, Ganesh and the sponsors are frantic. Time for one of the big guns – Nagarjuna! Somehow (we never know how) within minutes Nagarjuna finds the factory where the boys are being held hostage, rescues our heroes and gets them to the dance competition in time to compete. There is a minor detail of star performer Raghava having gunshot wounds to his legs, but that cannot stop him. It was a very nice touch by the makeup team to make the bloodstains on his costume get bigger the more he danced, and also to provide a small pool of blood at his feet as the competition progressed!  They are not out of peril yet. A further attempt to remove them from the competition is thwarted by CHIRU!

The time for the final dance-off is nigh and of course it comes down to the good guys of team Ganesh versus the black pleather clad Anthony. We were quite concerned by the flimsy dancefloor that seemed to buckle under the impact of Lawrence and his flying feet but after surviving heartbreak, thugs and guns we knew it would take more than that to stop him. Who will win? Do you need to ask? Dance is the winner!

Heather says: I love the idea behind this film; that you can overcome all of your difficulties if you can face them with courage.  The dancing children at the beginning were such a testament to the power of music to inspire everyone to dance no matter who you are or your situation in life.  And as this has always been our philosophy that dance will cure a myriad of ills, it really is a favourite film.  This is everything a movie about dance should be.  It focuses on the love of dance and how this can touch on every aspect of life.  Ganesh and Raghava both live to dance, and it shows in the joyous nature of their performances.  Every dance style is there, from classical to hip hop, and everything in between!  High points of this film for me are a hero who worships Chiranjeevi, a song dedicated to Chiranjeevi and a guest appearance by the man himself! And of course the number and quality of the songs.

The dancing in this film is almost a character by itself and the double of Prabhu Deva and Lawrence makes for some great performances.  The other dancers do really well to keep up, and the children are just great.  Although I love the dancing in this film and think the performances are fantastic, I am deducting points for the slightly silly plot.  4 stars from me.

Temple says: Style is such a fun film to watch. It has great songs and dancing, and a real sense of joy about dance. It’s a cliched story, but it works, and has me cheering for the good guys every time. There are many little tributes throughout the film – Michael Jackson’s influence is apparent, but there are nods to MC Hammer, Fred Astaire and of course South Indian film heroes.  I love watching Prabhu Deva. He is a genius and his joy in dancing is contagious and uplifting. I am a big Fred Astaire fan, having grown up watching his films with my grandparents, and there is a similarity in that both men are plain and unprepossessing until they dance – and then they transform into charismatic, amazing, radiant stars. I was curious to see if Lawrence could carry a film. It’s a big leap from being a featured dancer or choreographer to holding an audiences attention as a hero, and I think he tailored this film to really show his strengths. The supporting cast is good, and the humour is well embedded into the plot so there isn’t a clunky comedy track to bog the film down. I will never object to a film that wants to feature Chiranjeevi, especially when his appearance is an affectionate and humorous send-up of his own legend.  Style is a simple story, told fairly well, and boosted by some fantastic performers. I give it 4 stars.

Athadu

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We know what we expect from a Mahesh Babu film – lots of action, great fight scenes, and a tenacious, tough hero with a heart of gold. We also expect to be thoroughly entertained by a good story, and Athadu lives up to expectations on all those fronts.

Mahesh plays Nandu, whom we first meet as a child when he shoots a gangster called Vanka Suri. This is never really explained so we assume he was just on the fast track in his chosen career. Escaping from Suri’s henchmen (shooting one while the other runs away, although as Nandu only had a sawn off shotgun, had fired two shots and hadn’t reloaded, we’re not sure why the other thug ran away – but that’s a minor detail), he meets up with the gangster Sadhu and gets recruited into his fold. Following a bank robbery the gang ends up in custody at the police station, but Nandu manages to escape and rescue Malli and Sadhu, killing a police inspector along the way. So this establishes that Nandu is a killer who has no compunction about taking whatever action he feels is necessary to ensure his survival.

We can therefore jump to the present where we see that Nandu is a contract killer, still working with Malli now played by Sonu Sood, and he seems to be very good at his job. Malli on the other hand appears inept as a getaway driver, since the first time we see him he gets stuck in traffic, and the second time he manages to drive into a petrol tanker and is blown up! Nandu accepts a job for politician Siva Reddy who wants to garner the sympathy vote resulting from a supposed failed assassination attempt, and use this to get into power. Nandu is hired to shoot but not kill Siva Reddy. The mission goes badly wrong when Siva Reddy is shot and emphatically killed – by someone else. The police know exactly where Nandu is, suggesting that there is some sort of set-up going on, but despite this Nandu manages a spectacular escape onto a train.

This is where he meets Pardhu, who is returning to his village after a self-imposed exile of 12 years. Pardhu is accidentally killed by the police and after escaping the police pursuit, Nandu goes to the village in Pardhu’s stead. To further complicate matters, Pardhu has issues to deal with back in the village, one of which is his fiancée arranged since childhood, Poori, played by Trisha.

This is where our ‘heart of gold hero’ manifests, as Mahesh helps Pardhu’s grandfather who is having land rights issues, and generally makes himself useful. Over time he also falls in love with Poori – they ‘accidentally’ kiss and many colourful song picturisations ensue!

In time however, the CBI in the form of Prakash Raj catches up with Nandu. Prakash Raj also gets a chance to display his excellent Identi-kit Artist skills after somehow deciding to interview old time gangster Sadhu who is in jail. It could only be a matter of time til they identify Mahesh Babu from that sketch!

The detailed description

The amazing artistry of Prakash Raj!

If the plot seems convoluted up until now, it just gets twistier. The CBI has already realised that Nandu couldn’t have been the killer, but they keep pursuing him as the number one suspect. When the action shifts back to Hyderabad, a number of other factors come into play until almost everyone who was involved with the plot to assassinate Siva Reddy is dead.

The final scene between the actual killer, Nandu ,various officials and police takes place in a church and is very reminiscent of John Woo’s excellent film, The Killer. Nandu confronts the real assassin and explains: “Killing is not wrong. If you kill your enemy it is a war, if you kill your friend it is a crime, and if you kill a betrayer it is justice.” And the resolution of the film hinges on those words.

Mahesh has mastered the official patented hero run, which he does use to good effect in his many escape efforts in this film. He excels at playing the hero who doesn’t say a lot, but instead lets his actions speak for him.

A comment on Mahesh’s wardrobe – he seems able to pull off the most amazing moves despite his love of the layered look. We never see him without at least 2 T-shirts and a shirt, or a T-shirt, shirt, jacket combination. We like to call this look “Maxi-layer Mode Mahesh”. It is hard to believe he doesn’t collapse of heat exhaustion while dancing! Instead he looks cool and in total control.

Trisha is believable as Poori, the pampered princess whose elder sister isn’t as pretty or as spoiled as she is. But she is genuine in her love for Nandu, and Trisha manages to make her character’s self absorption come across very well in the initial scenes. This film has the usual suspects of Sunil as the best friend, Brahmi as the cantankerous son-in-law, Ajay as the son of the murdered politician, and the various other actors who play mums, dads, uncles, aunts and thugs and who never seem to be out of work in Telugu cinema! The action is well choreographed as usual by Peter Hains, and fits well within the narrative. The plot is complex enough to require some concentration, if only to remember who everyone is and their connections to each other. One of the credited choreographers is Vaibhavi Merchant, and indeed the dancing in this is a cut above some of the other Mahesh films we’ve seen.

While Athadu is an action packed film, there is still  the obligatory comedy track which allows Sunil and Brahmi to do their thing. Both play characters that serve a purpose in the narrative, and both perform well. Sunil in particular gets to show some of the range that made Maryada Ramanna so enjoyable. There are other light moments throughout the film that just happen along the way. One local goon sends his gang off to thrash  Nandu but insists that as petrol prices are high, they should travel in one car. While we missed the traditional Sumo convoy, we did enjoy this:

Heather says: This is one of my top 3 favourite Mahesh films with an excellent performance by Mahesh, and a really well developed story. The character of Poori is nicely played by Trisha, and she manages to hold her own in her scenes with Mahesh. Given that she is playing a rather shallow and selfish character she does instil her with enough warmth that we do want to see the romance work out in the end. Mahesh is in top form as the über-cool all action hero who can fight through the various gangs of thugs, police and various other obstacles in his way; capture the respect and heart of a family and romance the heroine. He really is perfect for this role – able to express so much just by small changes in his facial expression, and moving his gaze – just too good!  The transformation from cold killer by the realisation that he didn’t need to be the lonely outsider was a different take, and used the storyline of the family with a missing son very well.
The supporting cast keep the story cracking along at a fast pace, and everyone has a part to play. For a change Prakash Raj is the good cop, and turns in a slick and polished performance in this role. There is really little I can criticise in this film as it all comes together so well, and Trivikram has done a fantastic job with the screenplay and direction. It is fairly violent, but never in a way that is purely gratuitous, and certainly no worse than many Hollywood films. This gets 4 1/2 stars from me!

Temple says:  This is one of my favourite Mahesh Babu films. It doesn’t have the best soundtrack, dancing or story but it just has a bit more depth than the usual loner-on-a-mission fare and manages to blend the action, romance and comedy very successfully. I give much credit for that to Mahesh Babu. His performance is fantastic and nuanced and he really drew me into caring about what happened to Nandu despite that character being a sociopath and murderer. His subtle reactions to being welcomed into a family – such a foreign experience for him – were funny and touching. His struggle to understand women, especially the irritating mosquito style of Poori, and his dry sarcastic put-downs were brilliantly delivered. I thought Trisha did well with her role which was a shallow princess-y character although I don’t think there was much chemistry between Poori and Nandu/Pardhu. The fight scenes are expertly choreographed, better than the dancing for the most part, and are restrained yet gory and very effective. The climax scene, a beautiful tribute to John Woo, just went a bit overboard on pigeons and men who couldn’t shoot straight. I liked the comedy track but I did have issues with the rather daft police investigation process in this. Much as I could sympathise with Nandu for the Siva Reddy debacle and the fact that he seemed like a decent guy in light of his actions in the village setting, it doesn’t alter his past as a contract killer. So while I applaud the ending, it’s all a bit wrong. Only in films!  Points off for a so-so soundtrack and dancing, and more so for not getting Prakash Raj a stunt-artist and for the abysmal marksmanship. I give this 4 stars!

Kanthaswamy

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Kanthaswamy is not a great film, but instead serves as an excellent example of what might have been. A potentially appealing concept – a modern superhero/Robin Hood taking on the system, with all the benefits of the latest film technology and a good cast. And yet it falls short of the mark. A meandering story line, an irritating heroine and uneven pace mean this falls into mediocre territory.  It’s still a moderately enjoyable film, but could have been a lot better.

Vikram plays Kanthasamy, an officer in the economic offences department of the CBI who leads a double life as Kanthaswamy, a modern day version of Robin Hood.  Pay attention to that “w”! Using a local temple dedicated to Lord Murugan to assess who is in need , he and his band of merry men use money they have acquired as a result of their CBI raids, and distribute it to the poor.

Kanthasamy’s back up team are skilled in theatrical productions and technology, and after each reckoning with the villains, we get to see how it was set-up. We really enjoyed this – it was a cool twist on the invulnerable loner type of heroes. It also allowed for some back story about the group of friends and the introduction of one of the villains of the story.

Kanthaswamy is literally a ‘chicken’ superhero.  He has a great lair with numerous chickens which presumably come in handy for costume feathers as well as for Kanthaswamy to perfect his chicken impersonations.

Vikram is awesome as a chicken. No one else to our knowledge has managed to capture the mannerisms and emotional range of a chicken as well as he.  He makes the most of these Chicken Superhero moments and these are when the film works best.

There is also some clever comedy as Kanthaswamy metes out punishment to those who try to cheat the poor. One of the best moments occurs when local ne’er-do-wells pray for an Aishwarya Rai lookalike to come visit them and have some “fun” – and their wish is fulfilled in an unexpected but truly deserved manner.

The growing fame of Kanthaswamy brings the attention of police and media, and everyone wants to know who the Masked Chicken Man is. He falls foul (had to do it!) of local big-shot PPP, who promptly fakes illness to avoid further police action.   The rest of the plot revolves around PPP and another local crime lord Raj Mohan; detailing their various machinations to eliminate both avatars of Kanthasamy so they can get back to their illegal financial skulduggery, and the ways in which their plans are foiled.

As a second thread, PPP’s daughter, Subbulakshmi is roped in by her father to seduce Kanthasamy and bring him into her father’s crime organisation.  This very annoying character is played by Shriya. It says a lot that at one stage, Subbu’s life was in danger and we were yelling at the screen for Kanthasamy to let her die!  Portraying the heroine in the monotonously OTT way chosen here gave Shriya nothing positive to work with – as we didn’t buy the emotional element to the story, it became a distraction and deadweight. And her hair looks like a meringue; it’s also very distracting and annoying.  Shriya has been better in other films we have seen, so we suspect the director may have really missed the mark with this. The role itself had potential to elicit more sympathy from viewers but the performance highlights the narcissistic, arrogant and trashy aspects over the more likeable qualities that could have been conveyed.

Vikram plays his role quite deadpan, and the direction relies on a psychic voiceover to convey many of the inner thoughts and feelings “I know she knows that I know she knows”. This is a good gimmick, but is overused and may hamper the performances.

The running comedy track involving a dim-witted petty crook who operates in the vicinity of the temple is integrated with the story and is occasionally funny. But it is too long, recurs too often and disrupts the rhythm of the story.

The songs were huge hits. They are well integrated into the film and are successfully used to show aspects of the character.  However, there is limited dancing, always a negative in our view, and what dancing there is wasn’t well choreographed for the actors’ skills.  The exception to this is the songs featured on Vikram and friends which does work much better.  Allegra in particular is a fine example of how bad choreography can derail a song!   And the subtitles throughout the songs are frequently perplexing!

The first half of the film moves along pretty well. There is intrigue as Subbu and her evil father PPP attempt to destroy Kanthasamy as he takes on big business and corruption in and out of the police force. Then it all goes off the rails as the story shifts to Mexico for no good reason.

The motivation of characters seems to get muddled as well. Subbu wanted Kanthasamy to love her so she could destroy him but she loves him or doesn’t (we really couldn’t work this out!) and there is no rationale embedded in her changes of heart.  A needlessly convoluted sting operation later, the characters return to India, and the film starts racing to its conclusion.

Finally, PPP gets Kanthasamy in his clutches and thinks he has control over the activity of Superhero Kanthaswamy as well – but he is mistaken. Subbu learns that her father isn’t the man she thought he was, and Kanthasamy is more than a match for her. We learn that we are all Kanthaswamy or maybe we’re not, and that in the Rock-Paper-Scissors of life, a sledgehammer will beat a bus any day.  All’s well that ends well, but do we still care?

You may be wondering about item numbers. We were. Luckily Mumaith Khan shows them how it’s done! (Beverage warning applies – get the drinks away from the computer before you watch this. We have warned you.)

Heather says: I heard the songs from Kanthaswamy while I was working in Tamil Nadu as they were being played everywhere.  Even the local school children performed to Allegra at their prize giving.  I’d even seen the song clips as we had DVDs on our bus, so knew that the choreography didn’t quite live up to the potential of Devi Sri Prasad’s music.  (The reactions of the other Australian Health Professionals  to their first views of Mumaith Khan gyrating away to some uninhibited subtitles was however priceless!)  So I was disappointed when I managed to watch the entire film, as it could have been so much better!  There are quite a few notable moments in the film, but they are all centred on Chicken Superhero Kanthaswamy and his team of experts.  I really didn’t like Shriya in this at all, and found her presence to be an annoying distraction which totally derailed the plot for me.   Her storyline could have been removed which I think would have made for a more coherent plot and subsequently better paced film.  I don’t understand why Susi Ganeshan decided to make her such an unsympathetic character, as by the end there seemed to be no reason why Kanthasamy would fall in love with her. Indeed the actors seem to have come to the same conclusion as this romance was very unconvincing.  The frequent cuts from Vikram fighting as Kanthaswamy to him exercising and training may have been an attempt to make the film feel more like a HW blockbuster, but just disrupted the flow for me.  Despite this, overall the film looks good with some great visual effects and excellent choreography in the fight scenes.  Ashish Vidyarthi and Mukesh Tiwari were excellent as the villains and much more entertaining than the good guys.   But despite the amazing chicken impersonations, and great songs this film ultimately just disappoints – especially when you can see how good it might have been!  3 stars from me

Temple says: I didn’t hate this film, but there wasn’t a lot to love either. Ultimately, the frustration of seeing the potential for this to be a more entertaining film but not getting there overwhelmed the positives. The constant shifts from superhero to comedy to unconvincing romance just grated. If this had been a straight out Robin Hood crime caper with a superhero and his team taking on the system, I think it could have been great. Despite the big FX budget and glossy visuals this has a real pot-boiler feel as elements appeared to be added on at whim – the excursion to Mexico, the comedy track, the sting operation etc. Shriya really fails to impress in the role of Subbu, and yet I have quite liked her in other films (Chatrapathi for example, and she was very good in Kutty). For those of you wondering about whether her hairdo really did look like a meringue:

Vikram was good as the Chicken Man but less effective as the real Kanthasamy – perhaps due to the voice-over which spared him the need to emote in many scenes. They had no chemistry at all as a couple, although there is a really dire attempt at seductive song magic in the “Miaow Miaow” track. I tend to feel the director was at fault for this character misfire as the performers are capable but the film overall lacks a centre. I don’t like the soundtrack that much, and really the only reason to re-watch the songs was for the spectacular subtitles.  It’s actually not a bad time pass, but I was hoping for a lot more. I give this 3 and 1/2 stars – it gets a bonus half star for the excellent drag fight choreography.